Interview with Author – John L.

About John L.:
I am a first time self-published author who has been in recovery for over twenty-nine years. Throughout this time, I’ve had the privilege of working with hundreds of people in treatment, both as a counselor and Grant Writer, trying to help them overcome their addictions. There are common denominators that I’ve witnessed firsthand with individuals (including myself when I was newly sober) – the inability to fully grasp the concepts and implications of the 12-Step process. This often has proved to be barriers in applying the steps into their daily lives.

My objective was to talk about how I applied the 12 Steps in my life. My purpose was to write this book in a manner as if I am having a heartfelt conversation with the reader. This has required complete honesty, candor and an exposing of my soul in order to make the recovery process easier to understand. It’s my hope that this labor of love makes an impact on people, whether they’re in recovery or not…

What inspires you to write?
My motivation has and always has been to help people whether they’re in recovery or not. That’s why I wrote this book.

Tell us about your writing process.
I would be considered a seat of the pants writer. I wrote the original manuscript and every time I read the finished product, things would come to mind that I didn’t expound on. I would add the items and reread it again – more things would come to mind that I would add. I reread the manuscript at least a dozen times before I was finally satisfied. I then had a professional editor perform a line item edit looking for typos and punctuation errors with specific instructions not to change the language because of the many “Johnisms” throughout the manuscript that are phrases that I’m known for. I also made it clear that the book’s intent was to be read as if I was having a one on one conversation. After receiving his revisions I read the manuscript and found things that he missed. I then had my wife and close friend read it. I received their stamp of approval and went press.

What advice would you give other writers?
If you are writing a nonfiction piece with the specific purpose of helping people, be honest and let your heart speak for you.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
I went with the self publishing option because I considered what I had to say to be “time sensitive” given what is happening in my life at the moment (you’ll have to read the book to understand what that is).

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I feel that books are going to be self-published more and more in the future because it’s too hard for first time writers to be even acknowledged by the big publishers.